Gurneys are used in hospitals and medical or health care facilities to transport patients about, commonly while lying flat out and on the way to or from treatment or examination centers. Thus, a patient scheduled for an operation, would be carried by gurney from the patient's room to the operating room and then from the operating room via a recovery room back the patient's room. The patient must be transferred from the patient's bed to the gurney and then the operating table before the operation, and the reverse again after the operation, and such transfers traditionally have been made manually.
Many times, the patient is unconscious or otherwise is incapable of offering assistance in the transfer, so that great physical effort might be needed to lift and laterally shift the patient between the gurney and the bed or table located next to and generally aligned side-by-side with the gurney. Although only one orderly is needed to roll the gurney about the facility, several orderlies might then be needed for each manual transfer, adding to staff demands. Further, three or more orderlies might even be needed for a manual transfer if a significant mismatch in patient's weight versus orderly strength exists.
Moreover, injury risks of the orderly are increasingly of concern because of inflating cost for staff insurance and/or compensation liability, and because the potential of injury are high due to the awkward or improperly leveraged orderly movements needed for the patient transfer.
Mobile lifts, suited to be moved next to the bed, gurney or operating table, etc. on which the patient is supported, are available and have sling means that can be connected to the patient and then lifted under power for transferring the patient between the adjacent supports. However, such lifts are primarily used only for transferring the patient, and actually contain the patient for only a short duration and only at the transfer site. Thus, a different lift must be present at each transfer site, or the same lift moved between such sites along with the patient on the gurney. The need for different types of equipment at the facility increases the overall cost and space or inventory requirements of the facility.